Z99’s Accalia Hipwood, leaves the station and Grand Cayman today for a new job in Dubai.
Z99 radio host Accalia Hipwood. |
The 36-year-old presenter is hooking up with former Z99 colleague Kenny Jones to co-host a breakfast show in in the United Arab Emirates.
‘I’m really going to miss the great friends and listeners I’ve made here, but the chance to work in Dubai, in a new station, is really too good an offer to pass up,’ she says.
Accalia certainly made a strong impression in her two year stint at Cayman’s oldest running commercial station.
The Londoner’s fast-talking, wise-cracking style quickly endeared her to her legion of Midday and Breakfast Buzz listeners. So much so in fact that she recently topped an online vote to find Z99 and Rooster 101’s favourite on-air personality.
Open for three weeks, the internet poll run by the BestofCayman.com was commissioned by the Hurley’s Entertainment Corporation, which owns and operates both local stations.
The website, launched three years ago, gives reviews which highlight the best services locally. Its rankings are based on user ratings by visitors and residents in Cayman.
She swept the boards bagging over 42 per cent of the votes among the group’s broadcasters. Her prize – alongside the thrill of knowing that she’s made her mark with listeners – was a stay at the Shangri-La in West Bay and $100 to spend at Aqua Beach.
And her initial reaction when the results were announced?
‘I was delighted and stunned,’ says Accalia. ‘…radio is such an intimate medium it’s all about relating to people and getting them fired up… the online vote for me is the cherry on top.’
For the presenter, the legacy of a childhood spent traversing the globe (father Julian Hipwood was a former international polo player) is the wanderlust, which eventually led her to Grand Cayman’s shores.
‘I’ve always had itchy feet, a love of different cultures and the constant need for new challenges,’ she says.
And although many listeners felt a connection with her through her shows, there’s a wealth of Hipwood history even her biggest fans no little of.
Trained as an actor at Salford University College in the north of England, Accalia’s also studied journalism.
On graduation, she started off doing small jobs in television before deciding to ditch acting for a job with more security. ‘I very quickly learnt that not knowing where my next pay cheque was coming from and being constantly hungry wasn’t much fun… I ended up getting a job as a traffic reporter in Manchester,’ she says with a wry smile.
Working in one of the UK’s largest and most vibrant cities led to her mixing with a lot of radio industry types, which in turn led to a greater variety of work.
Honing her radio skills in the north resulted in a move down south to Bristol and eventually to one of the world’s toughest radio markets, London.
The move to the capital was a natural progression for the driven self-starter. Drawn there by ‘better job prospects and the chance to gain more versatility,’ she landed a plum job at Liberty radio in Knightsbridge, opposite the world famous Harrods. The station was co-owned by Harrods’ boss Mohammed Al Fayed, father of the ill-fated Dodi Al Fayed, boyfriend of the late Princess Diana.
Accalia started off producing the drive time show before becoming the show’s co-presenter. Great on-air chemistry, she says, led to an increase in the show’s ratings in the two years she was there. However, not one to sit still when there was interesting work on offer, Accalia also worked as a traffic reporter for the BBC.
Other jobs followed including working at LBC and Chrysalis and a stint with an award winning breakfast show for Londoners.
Part of the show’s on-air crew, she also doubled up as the station’s eye-in-the-sky reporter. Flying in a helicopter over London, reporting on traffic snarl ups and major accidents, she also got the chance to extend her beat by reporting on fires, robberies and most memorably the opening of Hyde Park’s Princess Diana Memorial.
Armed with a wealth of experience but having worked crazy hours for too long, Accalia moved to the Caribbean three years ago. ‘Having spent 15 years in radio, I was ready for a change of pace and a change of scene. I didn’t even know whether I wanted to remain in radio,’ she admits.
A spell in St. Lucia with her husband Oliver changed that. Her break from the airwaves made her see that she wanted to return to radio and fast.
In 2005 the pair moved to Cayman, and she returned to what she loves doing best. ‘It’s been brilliant,’ she says of her time at Z99. We had a lot of laughs and made some great radio’.
Always looking for more challenges, however, the broadcaster still keeps up her old contacts reporting for several of her former stations, most recently during Hurricane Dean.
‘Every Christmas I do live broadcasts for the Beeb about my experiences of the festive season as a Brit abroad. I read somewhere that 400,000 Britons left the UK to live abroad last year … for me in my personal and professional life change has invariably been a good thing. I’m thrilled about my new job in Dubai but will always look back fondly on my time in the Cayman Islands.’
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